the evolution of ideas

i feel sort of sorry for john cage. i hadn't liked him either, when i first encountered him in my history of western music class and they played (of course) 4'33". it's his most famous piece, and it stands out. but i would rather have met him here, introduced by a nervous talk show host and welcomed with laughter...because here he seems a person to me. trying to do something new that we weren't ready for. resourceful and undaunted, he changes his piece immediately before he performs it on television. and i'm struck with the same feeling i had as an art student, rendering a typography project. how much easier it is to make changes, sliding the letters around on a screen instead of having to design backwards for the letterpress. just like composing with a stopwatch, rather than a synthesizer. and that's far more impressive, than writing four and a half minutes of silence. it's gone up the stream and spawned. i think you'd like what's in your wake.